Martina Navratilova Appreciates the Courage of Good Friend Chris Evert for Bravely Talking About Her Cancer Battle

For years, women’s tennis has witnessed numerous on-court rivalries. However, the rivalry between Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert remains on top. While the two fought numerous on-court battles to be the best, it didn’t seem to affect their strong friendship bond. Apart from on-court rivalries, the two shared a close friendship bond off the court. A bond, which remains intact to date.

In January this year, Evert became the talk of the town when she revealed her ovarian cancer. Ever since then, the former World No. 1 has been battling the disease. While Evert has been undergoing a tough phase, she has made sure to spread awareness about cancer amongst her followers. Appreciating the courage of Evert, Navratilova recently went all praise for her rival-cum-friend.

Martina Navratilova assures Chris Evert of watching her show

Recently, HBO’s most loved sports show, Real Sports aired its latest episode. The episode featured Chris Evert in an exclusive conversation with renowned American Sports journalist, Mary Carillo. A conversation surrounding Evert’s fight with cancer. Being a much-awaited interview, the show took to its Twitter handle, releasing its trailer.

The trailer took the world into nostalgia by comparing her condition, after diagnosis of cancer to that of her prime tennis days. While the trailer started with Evert holding her tennis trophies, it was soon directed toward her at the hospital for her cancer treatment.

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The trailer not only left the viewers in reminiscence but also had Martina Navratilova appreciating her friend. The 65-year-old is one of the most active social media entities. She uses her social media to put forward her views on various matters.

Looking at the trailer, she took no time in dropping a special message for her longtime friend. Retweeting the show’s tweet, Martina wrote, “Will definitely watch this- brava to both of you but especially to Chrissie:)”

This isn’t the first time that Martina has appreciated Evert for her courage towards fighting cancer. Ever since January, Navratilova has time and again taken to her Twitter handle, putting up motivational messages, appreciation messages, and others for Evert.

Revisiting one of the greatest rivalries of all time

As mentioned earlier, Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova are two of the greatest on-court rivals in the history of the sport. The rivalry of the two dates back to 1973, when the two first faced each other in Akron, with Evert winning in straight sets. Being two of the greatest players, the two played the majority of their matches in either semifinals or the finals of the tournaments.

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Going neck to neck against each other for 1.5 decades, the two played their last match in the finals of the 1988 Chicago Open with Navratilova closing the chapter with a straight-set win. While the two ended their rivalry, they undoubtedly had a track record to look up to. In a span of 1.5 decades, the two played a whopping 80 matches, with Navratilova leading the race 43-37.